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NUMBERS
CHAPTER 23

1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. 5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

Balaam sure wants that reward! And he knows how to get people worked up
spiritually. He asks for seven altars to make seven sacrifices.
The number seven represents completeness. God DID come and talk to
Balaam. this may be a misled prophet, but he does believe in God, and
God has a genuine relationship with him.
The word prophet in the Hebrew is "nabi." It literally means for one to
speak for another. Now we just learned back in the last chapter that God can
even use a DONKEY to be a prophet!! The most important thing to remember about
a prophet is not WHO he is; but from WHOM comes his message!!
Sometimes saved people will err, but God is still using His people!

6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

Balaam carried the word of the Lord back to Balak. And the word is "you can't
curse Israel because God has blessed them!" Friends, NO ONE can curse
what God has BLESSED! REMEMBER THAT!!
Jesus said, "..upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall
NOT prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)
Jesus was talking about the New Testament church which is built BY HIM upon our
profession of faith that He is the Eternal Son of the Living God. And, friends,
the devil has come against God's church in a million different ways. He and his
demons have caused the Bibles to be burned, the Christians beaten, stoned, beheaded,
and crucified upside down, and even shot en masse. But still the church moves ON!
The church is still ministering to the world as the body of Christ. The church still
preaches a loving God for a lost people. The church still takes care of the poor
and needy. The church still educates Christians.
NO ONE can curse what God has BLESSED!!
And Balaam makes a strong statement here. He says his desire is to be like Israel,
to be BLESSED of God! (Verse 10)

11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. 12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth? 13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. 14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

A world full of reprobates is never satisfied with that answer. They would rather
see the church beat down to nothing than to admit sinfulness and accountability to
and Eternal and Righteous God.
Balak wasn't satisfied with Balaam's answer. He wants to go back and ask again.
Balak assumes that Balaam can bargain with God better if he sees a SMALLER portion
of Israel.

15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the LORD yonder. 16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.

Balaam again goes to talk with the Lord, and God was patient to answer him.
Verse 19 lets Balak know that Balaam doesn't carry God around with him like the
other false prophets Balak is used to. Balaam, instead, is under Divine direction
from Almighty God.

21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

There are some verses in the Bible that just make you fall on your knees and say,
"OH! God! I don't UNDERSTAND this!"
This is one of those verses. God says He has NOT SEEN any iniquity in the antion of
Israel. Yet just back in chapter 21, the people had been murmuring against God,
and He disciplined them by sending "fiery serpents." And yet, God says He's NOT SEEN
any iniquity in them! How can that be?
Because God looks at those people throught the BLOOD! He has already saved them,
and they belong to Him, and He is treating them as adopted children.
The second part of this verse is also tremendous. It tells of "a King" Who is already
AMONG the nation of Israel! The "shout of a king" is the shout of King Jesus
Who will be sinless and die for these sinful ones.
LISTEN! Do you REALLY HEAR what God is saying? JESUS IS ALREADY THERE!!
He is the One Who will offer perfection for imperfection. He is the One Who will
triumph over Satan and death for them. The "shout of a King" is already with the
nation of Israel back here in Numbers, 1500 or more years before Jesus was born!!
The "shout of a King" is Jehovah Himself! He is leading them as Jehovah, and later
will come as Jesus to perfect the plan which He has begun!
((See Isaiah 43:11, John 1:1-4, 14))
What a VERSE!! What a REVELATION!!
PRAISE GOD!! Even today He looks upon the church through the blood of Jesus! And
though He certainly disciplines us, He looks upon us with mercy and grace as His
adopted children!
He is AMONG us! How can the devil defeat us?

22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

Look closely at verse 23. It is said today! "Look what God has done with Israel!"
She's been captured, enslaved, run over by large empires, overtaxed, beaten, murdered,
and yet she still EXISTS! And "as goes Israel, so goes the world!" LOOK at
that miracle of God!! Behold God's POWER!

25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do? 27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon. 29 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

Again king Balak doesn't like the answer and wants to ask again. MAN!! He really wants
God to answer HIS way, doesn't he?
LISTEN: God's will cannot be changed by money, power or prestige. God's will cannot
be changed by good works. When God expresses His will, we should receive it,
and believe it, and LIVE BY it!

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